He's Back
by Natsushi
Summary: Kakashi finds Sasuke on a mission, and barely escapes with Sasuke and his own life. Both wounded make their way back to Konoha. Friendships develop and Romances begin. Everyone's got someone they love; Naruto prays Sasuke loves him. Yaoi Warning. Narusasu.
White hairs glistened with a deep red as they swayed ever do eloquently in the wind. Owner of said hairs trudged through freezing ankle-deep snow with a nearly unconscious Uchiha being dragged at his side. The copy-nin fought the heavy urge to topple over as he walked - or rather limped. His breath ragged, as he pushed on determined to get passed the welcoming gates of Konoha. Kakashi turned to the younger man beside him – his eyes, or eye, traced the wounds and splotches of blood that coated the other. He feared greatly for his former student's safety and health as he quickly realized there was much more than what could be seen with the eyes. The copy-nin's good eye stared into both of the Uchiha's good ones. He saw a mixture of fear, and confusion and anger; it was as if the boy felt emotions all at once and got lost in the confusion that was his own mind. Kakashi's gaze flopped back and forth from the day-dreaming Sasuke and the road ahead. As he watched Sasuke, he couldn't help but feel that Sasuke was lost – even in mind – Kakashi never took the other as scatter-brained, yet here Sasuke was his gaze refusing to stick to a single thing as if he needed to see everything due to a rampant curiosity. The boy looked young and innocent yet at the same time older and mature.

Kakashi had been in such a rush to escape Orochimaru's clutches, he hadn't noticed the clear change in Sasuke's hair length – his hair ultimately went just below his hips while his bangs hung just above his elbows. His hair length provided the Uchiha with even more grace and elegance despite the wounds and blood that painted him.

Sasuke had been lost in whatever emotions he felt right now – if his mind would slow down he'd be able to figure a way out of this. Slowing down was too hard at the moment with his heart pumping, vision blurring and refocusing like a camera, and all the blood was making him lightheaded. It was all too much, but Sasuke wasn't one to give up so easily; his determination always shined through when his body was ready to give in and up. He was going to see this through – wait, see what through? Sasuke had lost himself in thoughts. Wasn't he trying to escape a few seconds ago? Utter confusion rattled his brain as he scrambled for answers he thought he had. His eyes jumped from one thing to another as if the answers were in the physical world. It bothered him immensely; slowly driving the man mad. Soon enough, Sasuke frantically pushes away from KakashI – he stumbled off in the opposite direction of the gates. But his so called freedom lasted shortly as his legs crumbled under his own weight. Kakashi noted the panic that radiated off of the younger man. The masked-nin offered a smile from underneath his mask – knowing that the other would notice it – and held his hand out awaiting the other's reaction.

Sasuke's widen eyes stared into gentle welcoming ones. The Uchiha reluctantly took Kakashi's hand and was pulled up from the ground from said ninja. The minute Sasuke was to his feet he fell to lean against Kakashi. Said copy-nin wrapped an arm around the other to steady them both. Kakashi then locked eyes with Sasuke and nodded before continuing to trudge along – the raven- haired man didn't begin to question what that nod meant.

Kakashi had tried his best to let his anxieties about Sasuke and Sasuke's life up until this point rest so he could put his focus on getting to Konoha. But of course that would be too easy; his mind wandered from question to question, what did Orochimaru do to him? Experiments? Or rap – Kakashi didn't bother to consider any of what his mind came up with as truth. He looked up from the ground and towards the familiar gates hoping someone would see them struggling to clear such a miniscule distance compared to what he could cover in a better condition. But that wasn't the case he was wounded along with his – partner, friend, comrade? – former student.

Naruto walked around the village aimlessly. Simply wasting free time – he hadn't anything to do without Tsunade waving a mission in front of his face. Only when he had things to do did a mission appear. He could train but the blonde would prefer to train with his former sensei, Kakashi. Speaking of the copy-nin, where did he run off to? Right! He had a mission, but Kakashi got that one yesterday – it should have been easy since he was supposed return in four to five hours. However Kakashi's been gone ever since he got that mission the other day. From then to now was a long time, Naruto began to worry. As his worry slowly increased as he examined more details he began to make his way toward the gates.

Naruto arrived at the gates in short time, he looked out into the snow covered forest. He found what looked like his former-sensei carrying someone but it was hard to tell from this distance. Naruto looked around for the nearest ninja he knew. He found the one and only Might Gai. The blonde ran after the familiar nin. "Ne, Gai-sensei, does that look like to Kakashi to you?" Naruto asked pointing in the direction of the familiar looking person. Gai shrugged, "Sort of, but there's only way to know for sure." The man smiled with determination and curiosity not needed for the current situation.

Both headed out towards what looked like Kakashi. As they neared the man, it could be no one but the copy-nin. Naruto yelled out as he cleared the relatively small distance, "Kakashi!" Said man looked up from the ground to see Naruto, and Gai closing in. "Who's that?" The blonde gestured to the long haired – male, female? – person. Kakashi turned his gaze to the Uchiha expecting him to lift his head. But much to his surprise Sasuke did nothing, yet he felt a strong tremble rip through the boy.

"It's Sasuke."


End file.
